Charity For Nothing: The Virtues Book III (26 page)

I wrapped my arms and legs around him and held him close, and he chuckled, cuddling me right back, that is, until my cellphone started buzzing across the nightstand. I groaned when he moved off of me, and out of me, so I could get it.

I grabbed it up, “Hello?”

“Charity, are you okay?” Hope demanded, and the urgency with which she said it sent up red flags.

“We’re fine, why?” I asked sitting up.

“We as in the club, ‘we’, have problems,” she rushed out.

“What kind of problems?” I asked, the warmth of afterglow chased right out of my bloodstream by fear.

“Is Nothing there?”

“He’s right here,” I said.

“Put me on speaker.”

I did, letting her know it was done with an “Okay, we can hear you.”

“Okay, first off, Faith is fine. Marlin stopped him, Hossler is okay, too. She took her’s out with a shotgun blast to the chest.”

“Jesus!” Nothing exclaimed.

“The cops are at Hossler’s, and are dumbfounded by the home invasion, Marlin beat the one that got on his boat to within an inch of his life, and we’re handling that one internally. Nothing are you armed?”

“Yes, sure am.”

“Okay, we’re on our way. We took care of one on the
Mysteria Avenge,
I don’t think he was expecting I knew how to take care of myself. Didn’t take much. Cutter and I have to take care of one or two things before we get over there, you two sure you’re good?”

“We’re sure, we’re okay; who are they?” I demanded.

“Give you two guesses, Blossom. Pretty sure you’ll get it on the first try.”

“Nothing! Switch to the burner for all further communications!” Cutter called from the background.

“Aye, aye, Captain!”

“Shit, we’ve got to go,” Hope said and the line went dead.

“Right,” I said.

“Shower,” we both said in unison.

“You go first,” Nothing picked up the gun off the nightstand and went for his jeans, “I’ll make coffee, burner phone’s in the kitchen anyways.”

“Does it ever stop?” I asked.

“Pretty sure this is the last stand, Baby.”

“You think so?”

“I hope so. Go get a shower, get dressed, okay?”

“Okay,” I nodded and grabbed towels out of my bag, and a change of clothes, heading for the bathroom.

“Leave the door open if you want, so you can hear,” he called from the kitchen.

“Okay,” I called back and started the water.

I stepped into the warm shower spray and sighed, letting it beat some of the new tension from my shoulders. I sincerely hoped that nothing else would happen, but at the same time, at least
this time
if something did, I was in a better position to
do
something about it.

After Faith had disappeared, the first thing Hope had done, was enrolled me in an accredited Krav Maga class near my university. Whenever we’d gotten together in the intervening years, you’d better believe Corporal Badass had tested my ass on my learning, and had also given me a few pointers to impress my instructor with.

I was pretty good, though nowhere near as hardcore as Hope. When it came down to it, there just wasn’t any comparing with my sister who had trained since she was a child. While she’d been whooping ass, Faith and I had taken dance classes. It just was what it was. Right now, I was simply grateful for my education in the martial arts, and that there was a total lack of drugs in my system, well, aside from Nothing, but that didn’t really count now did it?

I shampooed my hair, and was in the midst of rinsing it, when I heard a footfall on the other side of the curtain.

“Nothing?” I asked, and the curtain whisked aside, the man on the other side, definitely
not
my lover.

I jabbed, and he caught my wrist, sidestepping just in time to avoid the throat punch I’d meant to deliver. I was in the shower, so slippery, and as I began to fall, I pitched myself towards him in a bid to both knock him off balance and save myself. It worked, to an extent, both of us crashing to the bathroom floor. The curtain and rod, crashing down on top of me. I scrambled over him and reached for the door frame trying to pull myself out into the hall, but the stranger grabbed hold of my legs and hauled me back, climbing my body.

I felt a surge of panic, and in my terror, bleated out, “
Nothing!”
but I had no idea where he was or even if he was okay…

Shit.

Chapter 32

Nothing

I stashed the gun in the junk drawer and pulled out the burner phone, turning it on and setting it on the kitchen counter. I made a point to keep it charged and it lit up, ready to go. I set about making coffee, and honestly, I didn’t see it coming. I was getting into the fridge to grab the creamer one second, and the next I was on the floor seeing stars.

Charity
, was my first thought, my second was that I didn’t want to get hit again, or go unconscious, so I played possum, and made like I was down for the count. Whoever was in my house, predictably, went for the bathroom, and my woman, leaving me to my own devices. I got lucky he didn’t tap me, really lucky. I guess ‘unconscious’ was enough for him.

“Nothing?” I heard her call, and then the curtain rattle; her short shriek of fear twisted the knife in my heart and had me pushing to my feet. My vision swam and I fought down nausea, as I went for the drawer with my gun. I got it in hand just as there was a crash, and it sounded like the whole damn curtain and rod came down.

“Nothing!”
Charity screamed and I was around the corner and down the hall. She was on the floor, trying to pull herself out into the hall but whoever’d hit me had a hold of her.

I rounded the bend, and aimed down at him, “Let her go,” I said with authority.

“Or you’ll what? Shoot me, and risk hitting your bitch?” his accent was thick, and he looked up and sneered. His head was shaved, and his thick, black eyebrows were drawn down into a frown.

“Shoot him!” Charity screamed and kicked back, catching our friend in the mouth.
Good girl!
I thought savagely. He let her go and she scrambled out of the bathroom around my legs.

“Still want me to shoot him?” I asked, knowing if she rang that bell she wouldn’t be able to unring it, and neither would I.

He snarled and lunged, taking the decision away from me. I pulled the trigger, and I honestly felt nothing about it. No regret, no guilt, he was trying to hurt the woman sheltering behind me, the woman I loved, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

The shot took him high, in the upper left anterior quadrant of his chest. Charity screamed and jumped, clapping her hands over her ears. She stared wide eyed as our attacker fell backwards against the tub, and left a red smear against the white bath.

“Okay, we have a gunshot to the upper left anterior chest, with a posterior exit wound to the,” I tucked my gun into the back of my waistband and gritted my teeth against the burning sensation just above my butt, it couldn’t be helped. I pulled the man forward and declared, “Left posterior, center mass, through and through, pretty fucking sure I clipped a lung. What do we do, Charity?” I asked, getting her brain engaged away from the fear, and as much as I loathed to do so, saving this fucker’s life became the top priority.

“Heartbeat?” she demanded.

I checked, “Yeah.”

“Here, apply pressure, I’ll call 9-1-1,” she ripped the towels off the floor where they’d fallen and I pressed them to the wound. The son of a bitch coughed, and started to come around.

“Phone’s on the kitchen counter, try and find some clothes, Baby. I got this for right now.”

“Okay!”

She ran down the hall to the kitchen and I heard her voice, frantic on the line, “Yes, please help, a man’s been shot… I don’t know, Nothing, what’s the address!?”

I pressed down hard on the wound, the man crying out and glaring murder at me, “Trying to save your life, you sack of shit,” I told him, before calling out my address to Char.

“Why?” he demanded, in his thick Slavic accent.

“Because, it’s what we do… her and me… you picked the wrong house to come rob and the wrong girl to attack. You live through this, you can tell your boss and the rest of your boys.”

“
Niet,
” he said, and spit blood onto my floor.

“Could always let you die here,” I said easing up on the pressure, his eyes widened and I saw defiance, no fear. He was a cold piece that’s for sure. Charity’s voice dimmed as she went, presumably, into the bedroom, she returned a moment later.

“He attacked me, in the shower, my boyfriend, he shot him. Please hurry, he doesn’t look good. No, I don’t know who he is, neither does my boyfriend. He’s a medic, and he’s applying pressure, but we need more than that. No, I’m a nurse, we don’t have any equipment to handle this kind of thing here. Okay, Okay, sure. I’m as calm as I’m going to get.”

I risked a glance over my shoulder and Charity was in a light summer dress, her hair dripping onto it and still half soapy. I swallowed hard and returned my sight to my patient. I could hear sirens, and it sounded like they were an eternity away. Of course, I wasn’t used to being on this end of things. I was the one used to riding to the rescue.

“Yes! I hear sirens, I’m opening the front door, now.” Charity’s footfalls pounded across the floor, and I heard her unbolt the front door and fling it open.

“Please hurry! Through here!”

“Shep!” I heard a familiar voice call.

“Yeah, Brody! Back here!”

“What the fuck happened man?”

“Dumb son of a bitch picked the wrong fuckin’ house, that’s what.”

The guy was fading, but he would make it if Brody and whoever he was partnered with made good time.

“Shit, we’ve got to get him out of there.” I helped Brody lift him and carry him out to where we could get his ass on the stretcher. His partner must’ve been green, because I’d never seen him before for one, and two, he wasn’t a paramedic – no patch, so he was just an EMT.

“Right, we got it, man. Shit, I’m sorry it was you of all people,” he said and glanced at Charity, “Ma’am,” he said and shook himself.

“That’s my girlfriend, Charity,” I said and Brody looked pole axed.

“Sorry to meet you this way, Ma’am, but if you could see fit to get Shep here to come back to the team, we’d not only appreciate it, but we’d be in your debt.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said and smiled wanly. Brody and his partner finished strapping the guy down and hustled the hell out of there, just as a couple of cops pushed through my front door. I held my arms open and Charity rushed into them, holding me tight. I held her back and soothed as best I could while the cops waited a moment for us to collect ourselves.

“
Charity!”
Hope screamed from outside and she and Cutter were through the door next.

“We’re good, Captain,” I said, and leveled Hope with my gaze, “We’re good, I got her.”

Hope nodded at me, and Charity flung out an arm blindly to her sister, who joined us. We huddled around Charity who shook, but didn’t cry. My brave, beautiful, fucking girl.

Chapter 33

Charity

“Well we touched a nerve with that Grigori guy, that’s for sure…” Cutter said quietly, peeking out the curtains at the cops retreating down the drive. They took Nothing’s gun into evidence, and took photos of the bathroom and red marks on my skin that may or may not turn into bruises.

I sat, shuddering on the arm of Nothing’s couch. Post combat shakes, Hope called them. I was pretty sure it was just the after effects of the adrenaline wearing off, but then again, it should have worn off much sooner than this. The cops had been here for hours taking their fingerprints, dusting the house, taking their pictures, and evidence.

Hope rubbed my back in useless little circles, and I breathed out a sigh of relief. At least the investigating officers were from Ft. Royal’s little police department, although I got the impression they were none too happy with The Kraken at the moment. Of course, I got the impression that The Kraken were none too happy with the current state of affairs, either.

“What’s going to happen?” I asked dully.

“Nothing, Baby. We’re good. The gun is mine, registered to me, and legal to have in my own home. He broke in here, and Florida has a King of the Castle law in place, just like most of the rest of America. They can’t touch me. It was justifiable.”

“Helps that y’all saved his life, not going to lie,” Cutter said.

“That’s if he makes it,” I murmured.

“He will, I’ve treated a lot worse,” Nothing said.

“What next?” Hope asked, dropping her head back and sighing, staring at the ceiling.

“Is Faith okay?” I asked.

“She’s fine, Trouble,” Cutter said.

“We’re perilously close to club business,” Nothing warned.

“Good call, brother,” Cutter grunted and let the curtain fall back into place.

“Oh give it a rest, she’s family,” Hope said glowering at the both of them.

“Right, and given her profession, the less she knows, the better,” Cutter said giving my sister a pointed look.

Hope stuck her tongue out at him, “I hate it when you stick me with a point that’s right.”

“Do it every night, might as well do it every day too.”

“Gross,” I uttered and the ensuing laughter eased the tension.

“So, what now?” I asked, wearily.

“Now, you go rinse the dried soap out of your hair, and we spend the next few days circling the wagons,” Cutter said.

“What’s that mean, exactly?”

“We all go back to the Captain’s house on lockdown. It’s not safe to be spread out throughout the town anymore.”

“Do you think he’ll deliver your message?” I asked.

“Probably, can’t say for sure,” Nothing said, and gripped the back of his neck, pulling.

“What message?” Cutter asked sharply.

Nothing sighed, “He asked why we were trying to save him, I told him to go back to his boss and tell him it was the kind of people Char and I were, and that he’d picked the wrong girl to attack.”

“Heat of the moment kind of a thing,” Cutter said, and there wasn’t any question about it.

“Yeah.”

“Shit, well, looks like I need to set Atlas and Radar to some digging, maybe get a hold of Ruth. See if we can’t get these guys to back off of us. I’m pretty sure they’re tired of losing men, and I want this to stop before we lose one of ours. The way we been going at each other, it’s only a matter of time.”